When they sat in silence, zie felt joyous. Dead silence usually had an air of loneliness to it, but Scottie found solitude in it when zie and Chris just sat there together on the balcony to the backyard and enjoyed one another's presence. What more did zie need besides the company of zir lover? They didn't need words to know that they loved another. And Scottie hadn't spoken for months, ever since the fallout between zir and zir brother. Zie didn't want to mess up any other relationships zie had in life.